


Stargazing

by TheBiromancer



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: F/F, Self-Loathing, Swearing, cheese and sugar crackers, just a little thing i wrote
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-21
Updated: 2017-06-21
Packaged: 2018-11-17 00:40:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11264409
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBiromancer/pseuds/TheBiromancer
Summary: The Crystal Gems go on a stargazing picnic, but when Amethyst eats all of their food, Peridot is left behind to look after her while the others go out to look for more food. Can Peridot make Amethyst feel better? More importantly, can their stargazing outing be saved? All that and more!





	Stargazing

**Author's Note:**

> This is an old story that I wrote last year, but I figured I might as well put it up on here now that I have an account. As always, leave a comment if you liked it! Thanks!

“Are we there yet? We’ve been walking for hours!”

Pearl looked back at Peridot. “Be patient, Peridot. We’ve only been walking for about twenty minutes. Besides, we’re almost there!”

 

She pointed to a spot about three-fourths of the way up the hill they were walking up. Peridot groaned. It was bad enough that Pearl wanted to waste their time with this pointless stargazing outing, but did she really have to drag them out to the middle of nowhere to do it? Peridot could see the stars just fine from the barn.

Steven tapped Peridot on the shoulder. “Peridot, are you okay?” 

Uh oh. Peridot put on what she hoped was a happy face. “Of course I am. Why wouldn’t I be?”

Steven looked concerned. “It’s just, you’ve spent a lot of time at the barn lately and-“

“Alright, this is the place!” Pearl stood triumphantly atop the hill as the others struggled up the hill.

“Honestly, I’m fine,” Peridot reassured Steven.

He continued to stare at her for few more seconds, then turned and followed the others up the hill.

Peridot sighed. She wouldn’t admit it to him, but Steven was right. She loved visiting the temple, but something about it made her… uncomfortable. Was it the Gems? Did she still have lingering feelings for Homeworld? She shook her head. She was a Crystal Gem now. A sworn protector of Earth. But something still bothered her.

Lapis landed next to Steven. “Uh, Pearl, why are we here?”

Oh, right. For weeks Peridot had been trying to bond with Lapis, but to no avail. She had shown her episodes of Camp Pining Hearts, made her peanut-butter-and-petroleum sandwiches the way Amethyst had taught her, and told her jokes, but the best she could muster was a small smile one time that turned out to be a hallucination caused by all that oil. Peridot was starting to get a bit irritated with Lapis. Why couldn’t Lapis see that she had changed? She and Amethyst and made up after that incident with the drill that one time, after all. Maybe what she needed to do was shove Lapis out of the way of a runaway object…?

“Well, today is the day the stars are brightest in the night sky, so Garnet and I organized this picnic for all of us to just sit back and look at the beautiful night sky.”

Lapis raised an eyebrow. “Do I have to stay here?”

Pearl was taken aback. “Uh, well-”

“Lapis, you’re leaving?” Steven looked up at her. “C'mon, the party’s just getting started!”

Lapis looked at Steven, then at Pearl, then finally sat on the grass, muttering to herself. 

Pearl turned to Amethyst. “And Amethyst, you have the other telescope, correct?”

Amethyst gave Pearl a thumbs-up, and then nonchalantly pulled the telescope out of her mouth, unhinging her jaw like a constrictor boa. It was quite fascinating to watch, Peridot thought, but the others needed a moment to compose themselves.

After she was finished dry heaving, Pearl choked out, “Why (hic) would you keep that very expensive telescope (cough) IN YOUR STOMACH?!”

Amethyst shrugged. “It was easier to carry that way. Besides, it still works!” She eyed the poor telescope, still dripping with digestive fluid. “Probably.”

Steven put his eye to the viewer. “Hey, I think I can see a planet!” He paused. “Never mind, it was a half-digested Styrofoam cup stuck to the eyepiece.”

Pearl sighed. “Well, my equipment may be ruined, but at least you delivered the food safely.”

Amethyst glanced at the picnic basket she was holding, a guilty look hanging on her face.

Pearl narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t.”

Amethyst burped. The smell of tuna and cheese wafted through the air, and then promptly started beating the others’ olfactory senses into a pulp.

“Ok everybody, stay calm, don’t panic,” Pearl shrieked, clearly panicking.

“Nobody’s panicking except you, Pearl,” Peridot shouted. Her voice was even more nasally than usual, probably because she was holding her nose.

“Does this mean I can go home?” Lapis asked, on the verge of tears. Steven, t-shirt pulled up to his nose, shook his head silently.

“SHUT UP!” Garnet shouted. They did. “We can still fix this. Pearl, you and I will repair the telescope at the barn. Steven, you and Lapis go back to the temple and get us some more food. Peridot, keep Amethyst out of trouble. And Amethyst…” She tossed her a small white container. “Have a damn breath mint.”

—

Peridot lay on the grass next to Amethyst. Neither of them had spoken in the last ten minutes. Peridot could breathe normally, so she guessed Amethyst had followed Garnet’s advice. 

Well, they couldn’t sit like that forever. Peridot cleared her throat. “So, Amethyst,” she said as casually as she could, “does Pearl make you, er, stargaze often?”

Amethyst glanced over at her. “Oh yeah, all the time.” She turned back to look at the sky.

Peridot waited for her to elaborate. When it became clear that no additional information was forthcoming, she decided to change the subject. “So, what’s the point of all this?”

Amethyst looked back at Peridot. “Whaddaya mean?”

“Well, I can see the stars every night at the barn, and you can do the same at the temple. So why do we need a telescope to look at them?”

“It’s just how Pearl gets sometimes. Once she gets hooked, she never stops, y'know?” Peridot smiled. Now Amethyst seemed to be getting back to her old self. “Pearl told me some stuff about the stars a while back and, well, I zoned out for most of it, but some of it was pretty freaky stuff.”

“Like what?”

“Well you see that bunch of stars?” Amethyst pointed at the sky. “The one that sorta looks like a spoon?”

Peridot squinted at the stars. They all looked the same to her. “Yeah…”

“The humans call it Ursa Major. It’s supposed to be like, a bear or something.”

Peridot laughed. “A bear? But it’s just a bunch of stars and planets!”

“I know, right? Humans are crazy!” She cracked up too. Peridot grinned. She hadn’t heard Amethyst laugh in such a long time. She’d forgotten how good it sounded. 

“What about… those stars?” Peridot pointed to the north.

Amethyst squinted at the sky. “Uh… Pegasus, I think? I’m not sure.”

Peridot was getting excited. “Wow, Amethyst, you really know your stars!”

Amethyst blushed. “Ehh, whatever. Pearl knows more about them than me.”

As Peridot scanned the sky, her eyes fell upon a familiar star. She felt the Homeworld star boring into her, blinding her. “Amethyst?”

“Mm?”

“Do you ever miss your home?”

Amethyst didn’t respond. Peridot could feel her animosity returning. “I mean, the kindergarten?” That didn’t help, she thought.

Suddenly, the energy dissipated. Amethyst sighed. “Not really. The place was a dump when I lived there. Then the Gems found me, and…” She shrugged.

“Oh.” 

“Do you miss Homeworld?”

Peridot looked over at Amethyst, startled. Her expression was unreadable. Peridot looked back at the sky. “Sometimes,” she said. “It’s… hard to forget what it was like. I think about it a lot.”

“I think about the Kindergarten a lot, too,” Amethyst admitted. “Like… what if the Gems had never found me? What if I just stayed there, forever?”

Peridot shivered, her eyes fixed on the purple gem. Life without Amethyst… well, that was certainly something to think about. Amethyst looked over at her and smiled. “Don’t worry about it, P. I’m not gonna… run off or anything…” She trailed off, glancing downwards. Her hair fell into her eyes as she shifted her weight. 

“Amethyst…” Peridot said, not sure what she wanted to say.

“What?” she said, looking back up. Peridot stammered, trying to think of something to say, anything to cheer up her friend.

It was at this point that she kissed Amethyst.

It wasn’t a great big kiss, or even a long one. It was just a peck on the lips. Even so, she regretted it instantly, and fixed her eyes on the sky. She regretted it even more when she looked over at Amethyst after a minute or so and saw that she was crying.

“Amethyst!”

“Peri…” She sobbed.

“Amethyst, I’m sorry! That was stupid and I never should have done it!”

“Stupid?!” Amethyst shouted. “You’re the smart one! I’m the one who’s stupid!” She gripped her head. “Augh!” She turned away from Peridot.

Peridot was scared. She had never seen Amethyst like this, not even at the Kindergarten. She struggled to reassure her. “Amethyst, don’t say that! That’s not true! You’re the smartest gem I know!”

“No, I’m not. You’re lying to make me feel better.”

Peridot hesitated. “Er-”

“Don’t you remember?” Amethyst smiled bitterly. “I’m defective. The RUNT.” She rolled over onto the grass and sighed. “Besides, you saw how I fucked up back there.”

Peridot’s natural curiosity got the better of her. “Is that Earth slang?”

Amedot glared at her. “Yeah, Peri, it fucking is.” She rolled back over.

So, it can be used as both a verb and an adverb, Peridot mused. Then she shook her head. She needed to help Amethyst, not question English grammar. “Look Amethyst, you’re not the smartest gem I know, and you’re not the strongest gem I know either.”

Amethyst glared at her again. “Wow, thanks.”

“Let me finish! You’re not the smartest or the strongest, BUT it doesn’t matter! Because you’re Amethyst! And that’s-” Peridot could feel herself begin to tear up- “that’s all it takes for you to be perfect to me.”

Amethyst turned a deep maroon. “R-really?”

“Really.” Peridot said. And, staring deep into Amethyst’s eyes, setting aside all her self-doubt and regret, she kissed Amethyst again. And Amethyst kissed her back. How long they kissed, Peridot could not guess, but to her it felt like a lifetime.

She flopped back down on the grass. “Holy smokes.”

Amethyst laughed a short, sincere laugh. “You can say that again, P.” She wiped the last of her tears from her cheek.

There was a commotion down at the foot of the hill. Steven, Garnet, Lapis, and Pearl were standing there, various emotions on their faces.

Steven was the first to reach them. “You guyyyyys!” he shouted, stars in his eyes. I wonder how he does that, Peridot thought as he hugged them tight.

Lapis was next, landing with a thump next to Peridot. “Nice,” she said, giving her a thumbs-up. Peridot grinned and returned the gesture.

Garnet stood above them, her face emotionless. Finally, she said, “Well, at least you kept her out of trouble,” and walked away.

Pearl was last up the hill, struggling under the weight of the telescope. As she passed the two of them, Peridot heard her mutter things under her breath like “another millennium of servitude” and “what would Rose think,” but she was too happy to worry about anything like that.

“Alright, who wants food?” Lapis said, pulling out tupperware and baggies from the picnic basket.

Amethyst perked up. “You guys have food? Man, I’m starving!” Everybody groaned. “What, what’d I say?” Amethyst said, laughing. Peridot smiled and threw her arms around Amethyst. _I think I finally get the point of stargazing now_ , she thought, burying her face in Amethyst’s hair.


End file.
